It’s hard to believe it’s been three months since we announced the finalists of the 2021 BC and Yukon Book Prizes! Over the last three months, the shortlisted authors and illustrators have been busy doing events, interviews, receiving reviews and more! This is a rundown of some of the exciting happenings from the 2021 finalists!
I Talk Like A River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith
- Back in March, Jordan Scott talked to Tom Power, host of CBC’s q. Scott talked with Power about the feeling of isolation and the power of finding belonging and one’s place in the world. To listen to this conversation click here.
Following the Good River: The Life and Times of Wa’xaid by Briony Penn with Cecil Paul
- In May, the Ormsby Review featured a review that highlighted Following the Good River. To read this review click here. Following the Good River was also reviewed in Focus on Victoria which can be read here.
Beep Beep Bubbie by Bonnie Sherr Klein, illustrated by Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal
- Just after the shortlists were announced, Bonnie Sherr Klein was on CBC’s The Next Chapter. Listen here.
Genius Jolene by Sara Cassidy- Sara Cassidy’s middle grade book Nevers (which was a finalist of the 2020 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize) was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Young People’s Literature: Text.
- Genius Jolene was shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily BC Young Readers’ Choice Award.
The Ride Home by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
- Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s high-low book has been nominated for both the Chocolate Lily BC Young Readers’ Choice Award and the Red Cedar Children’s Book Award.
The East Side of It All , by Joseph Dandurand
- The East Side of It All was shortlisted for the Canadian 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize. It was also recently included in Daily Hive’s “10 Essential Reads for National Indigenous Peoples Day.” And an except of the collection can be found in the June 2021 Literary Review of Canada.
British Columbia in Flames by Claudia Cornwall
- Received an Honourable Mention in the British Columbia Historical Federation’s Lieutenant Governor’s Writing Competition
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
- It’s been a busy awards and prize season for Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians, which has won the Governor General’s Literary Award, Amazon First Novel Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Author Prize. It was also a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Prize, and was shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Awards.
Fake It So Real by Susan Sanford Blades- Earlier this year, Susan’s book Fake It So Real won the 2021 ReLit Award in the novel category.
The E.J. Hughes Book of Boats, by Robert Amos
- The Ormsby Review reviewed Robert Amos’s latest book about artist E.J. Hughes. To read the review click here.